A coin you can hold, an exchange you cannot see. On Thursday night, $6.3 billion moved in 20 minutes.
Photo: Unsplash (royalty-free library image; not the original article's photography)
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Hackers took about $6.3 billion from Binance, the world's biggest crypto exchange, in roughly 20 minutes. Customer coins are safe, the company says, but the money behind them now has to be replaced.
Binanceisthe world's biggest cryptocurrency exchange, and it is where most crypto prices are set.1More coinschange hands here every daythan on any other platform.
Last Thursday night,hackerstook about $6.3 billion in coins from the exchange.The whole raidlasted about twenty minutes in total,from the first order to the last.
Analysts at Elliptic, a blockchain firm,callit the largest known theft of any kind in modern financial history.No bank robberyhas ever come closeto that number.
A server room of the kind an exchange runs. A hot wallet lives on machines like these: online, so it can pay customers at any hour.交易所的服务器机房。热钱包就住在这类机器上——连着网，才能随时给客户转账。Photo: Unsplash (royalty-free library image; not the original article's photography)
PARA 07
The hackersdid not stealthe keys at all.Instead,theytook over the internal system that decides which payments to approve.
黑客并没有偷钥匙。相反，他们接管了那个决定「哪笔付款可以放行」的内部系统。
PARA 08
It may have started with one employee's laptop, left open and infected.From there,the attackersreachedseveral of Binance's own systems.
Their ordersdid not pass throughthe usual checks.Then,the walletsemptied themselves, one after another, in less than half an hour.
他们的指令没有经过常规审核。接着，这些钱包不到半小时就一个接一个被搬空。
Chart 1 | The raid in five steps. The last box is the only one that worked in Binance's favour, and it only caught half the money.Editor's schematic, based on Binance statements and TRM Labs' account of the attack.
PARA 10
The softwarealso erasedits own tracesas it ran.Thatmade the stolen money much harder to follow across the public blockchain.
这套程序还顺手抹掉了自己的痕迹，一边运行一边抹。这让这笔赃款在公开的链上难追得多。
PARA 11
Binancestoppedall withdrawals at once.4For about 34 hours,no customercould touch their own money, or even see where it had gone.
币安暂停了全部提现。在大约 34 小时里，没有客户能碰自己的钱，连钱去了哪都看不到。
PARA 12
A halt like thisprotectsthe exchange from a rush of sellers hitting it at the same time.It also frightens ordinary people,because it looks exactly like a bank run.5
Binancerushedto shore up confidence.Itpromised to make every user whole, down to the last coin,using its own money and its own coins.
币安赶紧去稳住信心。它承诺让每个用户一分不亏、一枚币不少，用的是公司自己的钱和币。
PARA 14
The companyset aside$6.34 billion of its own funds to cover the hole.About 80% of the stolen coinshave already been replaced, mostly with coins bought on the open market.
Chart 2 | A single exchange, a single night, and more than twice what all crypto thieves took in the whole of 2025.Sources: Reuters / TRM Labs (2025 total, about 150 attacks); industry tally reported by International Finance News for the first nine months of 2026 ($2.596bn).
PARA 15
Coin issuerscould freeze6a large part of the money before it moved again.Tether and Circleblocked$2.37 billion between them, within hours of the attack.
发币方可以冻结其中很大一部分钱，赶在它再次转走之前。Tether 与 Circle 共冻结了 23.7 亿美元，攻击后几小时内就动手。
PARA 16
A stablecoin hasan ownerwho can block an address.Bitcoinhas no such owner,so those coins can keep moving from wallet to wallet.
稳定币有一个发行方可以封掉某个地址。比特币没有这样的主人，所以这些币还能一个钱包一个钱包地流动。
PARA 17
About $3 billion of itis frozentoday, locked by the companies that issued the coins.The other $3.3 billionis gone for now, and may never come back,mostly in bitcoin and ether.
By Monday,Binancehas promised to publisha "proof of reserves".7Thata public snapshot of what it says it holds for customers.
到周一，币安要公布一份「储备证明」。那是一份它「自称」替客户保管了多少资产的公开快照。
PARA 19
A snapshot is not the same thing as a full audit of the books.Itshowsone moment in time,and only the coins the exchange chooses to list.
快照和把账本查一遍的审计，不是一回事。它只显示某一个时点，而且只算交易所愿意列出的币。
PARA 20
Crypto pricesfell on the news of the hack,but not by much.Bitcoinhit a six-week low of $76,368before it steadied.
加密币价格在被盗消息出来后跌了，但幅度不大。比特币一度跌到六周低点 76,368 美元，随后站稳。
A price screen. What the market questioned was not the coins, but who was holding them.一块行情屏。真正被吓到的不是币价，而是「币放在谁手里」这件事。Photo: Unsplash (royalty-free library image; not the original article's photography)
PARA 21
The loss wasonly about 2% of the exchange's user assets.Still,every single customerhadexactly one counterparty: Binance.8
这笔损失只占交易所用户资产的约 2%。不过，每一个客户都只有一个对手方：币安。
PARA 22
This is not a one-off, and the trend is going the wrong way.In 2025,thievestook$2.9 billion from crypto usersin about 150 separate attacks.
US analysts saythe patternclosely matchesearlier attacks blamed on North Korea.The FBI and the Secret Serviceare now helping with the search for the money.
to make something stronger or more secure, especially something weak
Binance rushed to shore up confidence after the hack.
支撑、稳住（信心、结构）：把已经松动的东西加固
被盗之后，币安赶紧出来稳住信心。
set aside/set əˈsaɪd/
to keep money or time for a special purpose, instead of using it now
The company set aside $6.34 billion to cover the loss.
预留、拨出：把钱先放到一边，专门用于某件事
公司拨出 63.4 亿美元来补这笔损失。
make whole/meɪk həʊl/
to pay someone back fully, so that they end up with no loss
Binance promised to make every user whole with its own money.
全额补偿、让……不受损失：把亏掉的部分补齐
币安承诺用自有资金让每个用户一分不亏。
on record/ɒn ˈrekɔːd/
known and written down, so that it can be checked later
Analysts call it the largest known theft on record.
有记录以来：已经被记下来、可以查证的
分析人士称，这是有记录以来已知规模最大的一起盗窃。
take over/teɪk ˈəʊvə/
to take control of something that someone else was running
The hackers took over the system that approves payments.
接管、夺取控制权：把别人手里的东西拿过来管
黑客接管了负责批准付款的系统。
pass through/pɑːs θruː/
to go through a system or a check before being allowed to continue
Their orders did not pass through the usual checks.
经过（审核、流程）：先过一道关，才被放行
他们的指令没有经过常规审核。
in the space of/ɪn ðə speɪs əv/
within a stated amount of time, used to show how short it was
The money left in the space of 20 minutes.
在……之内：用来强调时间之短
这笔钱在 20 分钟之内就被转走了。
hold the keys/həʊld ðə kiːz/
to have real control over an asset, not just the legal right to it
Customers own the coins, but the company holds the keys to every wallet.
掌握密钥、真正控制：不只是名义上拥有，而是能实际动用
客户拥有这些币，但钥匙在公司手里。
读后测验 · Check Your Understanding
3 道题。点选项立即判分；解析需要单独点开。
Q1What did Binance say about customers' money after the hack?
正确答案：B
第 14、15 段说得很清楚：币安「承诺用公司自己的钱让每个用户一分不亏」，并已预留 63.4 亿美元。A 把「损失占用户资产 2%」误当成「每人扣 2%」；C 文中没有保险赔付这回事（10 亿美元的 SAFU 是公司自己的基金）；D 原文完全没有提。B1 第一题考事实定位：谁赔、拿谁的钱赔。 It promised to make every user whole with its own money.In a custody business, the promise to pay is the product.
Q2Why could Tether and Circle freeze part of the money, while bitcoin could not be frozen?
正确答案：C
第 16、17 段是一条对照：稳定币「有一个发行方，可以封掉某个地址」，比特币「没有这样的主人」，所以那部分币还能继续流动。A 与原文不符，黑客一到手就把稳定币换成以太币；B 把「发币方的技术能力」说成「交易所的请求」；D 原文说的是 24 亿美元的比特币和以太币「够不着」，不是已经卖掉。 A stablecoin has an owner who can block an address. Bitcoin has no such owner.Freezing is a feature of centralised coins. That is exactly what decentralisation gives up.
Q3What does "the largest known theft of any kind" mean here?
正确答案：A
「of any kind」是往大里比：不只是加密行业，而是所有类型的盗窃，包括银行劫案。B 把范围缩小成「加密行业内部」；C 把「任何类型」误读成「很多种币」；D 与原文相反，金额是明确的 63 亿美元。B1 第三题考短语在语境里的意思，关键是看「any kind」这三个词。 Analysts at Elliptic, a blockchain firm, call it the largest known theft of any kind in history.Read the qualifier, not the noun. "Of any kind" is doing all the work in that sentence.
